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Friday, 14 February 2014

Chinwe or Loo of Healthy Hair and Body is our long 4c case study of the day. She is one of the most versatile 4c naturals that you could find and styles her hair seemingly effortlessly in every style from twists, twist outs, straight hair, buns, updos and even the absolute no no for most long 4c naturals.....the wash and go!

She has an active blog and is a really good researcher too. She cites scientific journals all the time and has even beaten me to new information several times! She is worth a look both for the gorgeous hair and her great content!

Here are her stats in the usual case study format!

Long 4C Natural Hair Case Study: Chinwe - Healthy Hair and Body

HAIR PROPERTIES

Hair Length

Waist length

Shrinkage

Very High - Waist length to around 4-5 inches long

Strand Thickness

Mostly medium and some fine

Overall Hair Density

Medium

Time Taken to Reach Longest Length

Approximately 4 years

HAIR MAINTENANCE

Styling for Length Retention

Protective style - generally twisted styles worn for about 3 weeks at a time

Moisturising Routine

Avoid midweek wetting of hair unless necessary. Utilise a good wash and leave in routine to maintain moisture for a week at a time

Detangling Method

Once every 3-4 weeks. Mainly use a wide tooth comb with fingers used to separate initially but not as main detangling method

Washing Routine

Pre-shampoo with oil (8hrs+) . Hair washed weekly in twists and once every 3-4 weeks, twists are fully undone to wash hair.. Hair washed in sections.

Trimming Routine

Mostly a dusting routine but does trim if hair growth becomes stagnant.

*Disclaimer: Please note that hair typing is NOT a science, for the purpose of this series, the people featured are identified solely by me (Jc) as having 4c hair characterised by a tight curl and high shrinkage. Many people with 4c hair may identify their hair as 4a/4b if they are following the actual book reference for hair type which does not include 4c. 4c was created by natural hair forums to describe high shrinkage hair

Her Fotki page (the public one, which I can see) is full of empty folders.

Her blog though...I've only been on it for 5 minutes and already she's got me reconsidering twists as a long-term protective style. Her wash method of keeping the water only on the scalp may allow me to wear twists longer.

She has pictures on her fotki, you do have to be a member to see them (i.e sign up for fotki and you will have access).

She does say her hair is 4abcxyz, I actually also adopted this description too. I've had people call my hair 4z because they think it is just the most kinky hair ever created, others call it 4c when following post 2007 hair typing, others call it 4a when following a book reference hair typing, others call it 4b when it is stretched and appears not to have coils, hence the reason for the disclaimer at the bottom.

About Me

Note: Links in Comments

I welcome all comments but please do not include links as 99% of the time I will reject the comment. I cannot usually tell the difference between a user and a seller recommending a product. This is an evidence based blog and it is my intent to keep it objective.

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